in the night
by Arana'a
Summary: sickness changes people. and it's in times of sickness that the great turning points in history occur. tom riddle knew he would take every chance to live. sickness changes people.


His breathing was shallow, and his heart pounded, making him fear that it would burst through his frail chest. He could feel the heat seeping through his limbs, and the chill of his body fighting the disease. Around the edges of his vision, he saw blackness, dancing with demons that enticed and terrified him all at once. Vaguely, he could hear the sounds of others around him, their voices filtering down to him, as if sounding through a thick wall of water. He frowned in confusion, unable to make out what they were saying.

There was one thing he was certain of though. He, Tom Marvolo Riddle, was dying.

"What is the matter Mrs Cole?" asked the doctor, stepping into the orphanage. It was rare to get a call from an orphanage, but the desperation in the call had brought him here.

"One of our boys is sick doctor," said the woman, "He caught the flu a few days ago, and we thought nothing more of it. We just popped him into bed, and told him to get some rest. But he's been steadily worsening ever since. Nothing we can do will rouse him. And now…"

She trailed off.

"And now what?" asked the doctor.

"He's hallucinating," said the woman, "He calls for people we've never heard of, and screams that there are beasts around him,"

"What beasts?" asked the man.

"Mythical ones," said the woman, "That there are dragons, and trolls and sphinxes all around him. Sometimes, he'll say that there's a basilisk coming, and that we'll all die, but at that point he's usually half conscious,"

"This is unusual," admitted the doctor, "How many are around him?"

"Just the nurse, and the local doctor," said Mrs Cole, "We only called you after he stopped even seeing us,"

"I'll come and see him," said the doctor.

"Professor Dumbledore," called and auror, stepping into the old man's office.

"Yes?" asked the man, looking up from a pile of reports.

"I've come to inform you of strange spikes in magic around the orphanage you had us monitoring in London," said the auror just out of Hogwarts. He had been easy to manipulate, "Uncontrolled spikes,"

"That is disturbing," said the old man over his spectacles.

"Would you like me to send someone over to check it out?" asked the auror.

"No my boy, that won't be necessary," said Albus, smiling genially, "I'll go over myself,"

"Alright sir," said the auror, "Should I inform anyone else?"

"No, that'll be fine," said Albus, "I'll do it myself. You just go and get back to whatever I pulled you away from,"

"Yessir," said the auror, before he left.

Albus sat back and folded his hands on the desk, deep in thought. He had always suspected the boy of being out of control. This was merely proof. If he managed to get the proper evidence to the Headmaster, he might be able to get the boy expelled once and for all. The world didn't need the Slytherin's. His ancestors had believed that, and so did he.

The doctor walked into the room and frowned. He knelt by the bed of the boy, and gently started his examination.

"Well doctor?" asked Mrs Cole, who was standing by the door.

"It seems like flu, until one discovers the hallucinations,"

"Should he be taken to hospital?" asked Mrs Cole.

"No, that won't be necessary," said the doctor, "I should be able to mix something up,"

"So it can be fixed?" asked the matron, looking concerned.

"Oh yes," said the doctor, "But I will need time alone,"

"Might ask why?" asked the matron.

"I tend to work better alone," shrugged the doctor.

Mrs Cole nodded, and the room was emptied. The doctor sat back on his heels and viewed his patient once more. He watched unconcerned as the boys eyes opened, and darted to him.

"I know," rasped the boy, "I know what you are,"

"Do you?" asked the doctor.

"Yes," said the boy, now fighting to keep his eyes open, "You're like me,"

"Perhaps," said the doctor, "I'm going to give you a choice,"

"What choice?" asked the boy.

"A simple one," said the doctor, "I can't help you. Not here. What I can do is alert the authorities. That will require magic,"

"What's the other option?" asked the boy.

"I do nothing, mix you a small sleeping draught, and leave you here to fight through it," shrugged the doctor, "You will survive, and no-one has to know of this,"

"If you do magic, and alert the authorities," rasped the boy, "What will happen?"

"I make it look like you've used your magic to do something, they come in, see you ill, take you to st. Mungo's, and this hits the headlines. You'll be in the spotlight for months, even years, and you'll have to be on your best behaviour," said the doctor.

"I choose that option," said the boy instantly.

"Why?" asked the doctor.

"I don't want to be left here. If that gets me out of here, then so be it," said the boy, now fighting to sit up.

"Stay there," said the doctor, "You can relax now, I'll take it from here,"

Albus transfigured his robes to a blue suit, and apparated to the orphanage, sure to pop in a block away. He walked down the block and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" there was a maid there, and she dubiously eyed his suit.

"I'm here to see Mrs Cole," said Albus smiling pleasantly.

"Alright," said the maid, and he was lead to an office.

"Hello," said Albus, walking in.

"Hello," said Mrs Cole, frowning, "I know you,"

"Yes, I'm the man who came to accept Tom Riddle to his school," said Albus.

"Ah yes," said Mrs Cole, "Have you come for another child?"

"No," said Albus, "I've come to check up on Tom, seeing as he is an orphan,"

"Oh," said Mrs Cole, "Right this way then,"

She led him out of the office, and through the halls.

"I will warn you, Tom has been ill for the past few days," said Mrs Cole.

"Has he?" asked Albus.

"Nothing serious, mind you," said the matron, "But we have confined him to bed,"

"Ah," said Albus. So it seemed tom was mucking around in boredom. That simply wouldn't do.

They reached the door of the sick wing, and Mrs Cole stopped.

"We did have a doctor in, when Tom didn't get well that fast. He's in there mixing up some medicine for tom," said the matron.

"Is that so?" asked Albus.

"Yes," said the matron. Before they could do anything, a group of black suited men walked down the hall.

"Professor?" asked the man in the lead, and Albus recognised Rufus Scrimegor, an auror recently graduated from Hogwarts.

"Is something the matter?" asked Albus.

"There's been an alert," said Scrimegor, before a man stunned Mrs Cole, "A very strong alert,"

"Very well," said Albus, and he opened the door and stopped short at what he saw.

The doctor let the boy's breathing even slightly, before he injected a mild pain reliever into the boys arm. It was mixed with another drug that would enhance the boy's hallucinations. Just in case he didn't have one when the aurors arrived.

Briefly checking the door and the windows, he slipped a thin wand from his bag. The holly wood gleamed in the lamplight, and the doctor smiled. He had polished it the night before.

Waving the wand, he created a strong spike in magic, and shattered a few of the bowls and lamps around the rom. He quickly placed the wand back into the bag, before using another burst of magic to send himself flying across the room, and into the wall.

Just in time too, for the door clicked open.

Albus stopped short at the sight of a panting Tom lying in bed, and a man, who was obviously a doctor lying slumped against the opposite wall.

An auror rushed to the man, and knelt by his side,.

"Sir?" asked the auror.

"I only injected him," mumbled the man, a small trickle of blood coming down his brow, "It was just a pain reliever,"

"It's alright sir," said the auror, "We'll take care of you,"

Two aurors came forwards to help the doctor onto a stretcher, and Albus watched silently.

This was the perfect opportunity. If he spun this properly, he might be able to paint tom in a bad light. Bad enough to get rid of the troublesome boy…

Albus was rocked out of his thoughts by a scream.

Every auror turned in the room to view tom, who was now writhing on the bed, and was staring unseeingly at the ceiling.

"No! Make it stop! Make them go away!" babbled the boy, "It's coming back! Make it go away!"

Scrimegor stepped closer to tom.

"What is?" he asked gruffly.

"The basilisk!" screamed tom, now sounding hysterical, "It's coming for me!"

"Merlin," breathed Scrimegor, before he cast a diagnosis charm on Tom, "He's got the Green Fever!"

Immediately, every auror jumped away from Tom, even though it was unlikely that they would catch the disease. After all, only someone descended from an ancient could catch the disease.

A call was sent to St Mungo's and Tom was immediately transported over. The aurors cast a quick _obliviate_ over the muggles in the orphanage.

As tom was being taken through the halls of the hospital, he was spotted by Dorea Black, a fourteen year old girl who had taken a liking to Tom. An hour later, she sent owls to the other pureblood heirs about Tom's illness.

The next day, people unrolled their copy of the Daily Prophet to discover that the green Fever had been diagnosed in a thirteen year old orphan boy by the name of Tom Riddle.

Tom did of course recover, and he soon found himself under the scrutiny of Wizarding Britain. They all wanted to know who this orphan boy was. After months of recovery on the hospital, he was released in time to go to school. He soon found himself surrounded by all the other students, who were incredibly curious about him. At the end of the year, he was taken to Gringotts to put an end to all the speculation.

A blood test confirmed it. He was descended from an ancient. Salazar Slytherin to be precise. Now that it was out in the open, Tom found himself being offered pathways that had never been available before. His new fortune helped.

Dumbledore found himself facing a trial, after it was revealed that he had repeatedly ignored Tom's requests to be taken out of the orphanage. The great wizard spent 2 years in Azkaban, and when he came, out, he was a raving lunatic.

_50 years later…_

Harry potter stepped out of the portal he had opened, and closed it securely. He gazed around the room, which appeared to be unchanged. He knew that once he stepped out, things would start to change. Smiling, he put his doctor's bag on the table, and walked out of the Room of Requirement, only stopping to lean against the wall as his new memories rushed into him.


End file.
